Is the "zawahiri letter" authentic?

December 14, 2005 2:29 PM

Bush used the "Zawahiri letter" today as part of his justification for his policies and the war in Iraq ... I have heard a number of doubts about it's authenticity, does anyone know what the chain of custody/origin of this letter is? and what the current conventional wisdom is on its authenticity?
posted by specialk420 to Law & Government (2 answers total)

Can't speak to your question precisely, but I was there this morning and I can say I don't think he received the applause for that line that he was expecting. The audience, at the Wilson Center, were largely academics, so maybe that says something about its perception? These people applauded for a lot, but not that whole bit...
posted by electric_counterpoint at 2:45 PM on December 14, 2005

Best answer: Marc Lynch (abu Aardvark to you and I) has had a pretty good up 'n down train of thought about this letter. Initially, he thought the letter to be real, but started digging around and he changed his mind (make sure you read the comments in that link.). However, after some further reading and discussion and whatnot, he changed his mind again.
Since Zawahiri doesn't exactly have any channels of communication with Zarqawi, he thought he would use the public sphere to get his message to Zarqawi.
Just make sure you read those links, as they clearly spell it all out for you.
posted by NoMich at 7:45 PM on December 14, 2005